After struggling mightily for the past three years in Atlanta, second baseman Dan Uggla may have another chance with a new team. MLB.com's Bill Ladson reports that the Washington Nationals have signed the second baseman to a Minor League contract for 2015. The contract includes an invitation to Spring Training, which could allow Uggla a chance at making the Major League roster out of camp or at least leave enough of an impression for the Nationals to call him up later in the season.
Uggla, age 34, was a hard-hitting second baseman for the then-Florida Marlins from 2006-2010. As a Marlin, he averaged 155 games, a 263/.349/.488 slash line, 31 HR, 93 RBI, and 3.1 WAR. He had a solid 2011 season with the Atlanta Braves when hit hit 36 home runs and drove in 82 runs. However, since then, Uggla's production has vastly fallen off. From 2012 through 2014, he has averaged .194/.318/.353, 14 HR, and 48 RBI.
That three-year average includes a 2014 season in which he played in only 52 total games, 48 of them with Atlanta. After he hit a dismal .149, the Braves released him on July 18. The San Francisco Giants signed him in late July. After appearing in just four games, though, Uggla found himself out of work once again on August 7. Normally, a drop off of this magnitude accompanies injury, but in Uggla's case, it could have resulted from blurred vision he started suffering in 2013. He had eye surgery in August of that year.
UPDATE: In his "Updates on Nine" section of his Sunday, December 28 , column, The Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo announced that Uggla played through an undetected concussion. Doctors confirmed that announcement eariler in the offseason.
Second base appears up for grabs in Washington as Asdrubal Cabrera has left via costless agency but has not yet signed with any team. Perhaps getting his full vision back -- and overcoming his concussion sypmtoms -- will help Uggla rebound enough to win the job even if he does not quite hit as well as he did as a Marlin.